


Taking Care

by TinCanTelephone



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kay the dog, Sickfic, but there is a dog, so much fluff there's almost no plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 20:04:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14268534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinCanTelephone/pseuds/TinCanTelephone
Summary: While Jyn is away, Kay and Cassian take care of each other.It's an okay time.





	Taking Care

**Author's Note:**

> Why?? Because I felt like it!

Cassian figured he must be alive, because being dead shouldn't hurt this much. Every muscle in his body was aching, his head was pounding, and his throat was on fire. He swallowed and licked his chapped lips before opening his mouth again so he could breathe.

He screwed his eyes shut and tried to fall back asleep. Whatever horrible virus this was had been kicking his ass for the past two days, confining him more or less to bed with a fever and a head full of mucus. His lungs tripped over the next inhale and he began coughing in wet, phlegmy hacks that sent shocks of pain through his body with every jerk forward.

When it was over he was panting and felt so exhausted he thought he might pass out lying down, which perhaps wouldn't be such a bad thing. He tried to lean into it and just let unconsciousness take him, then he felt the bed move behind him and two paws slam into his shoulder.

He groaned, which set him coughing again, and tried weakly to push away the cold, snuffling nose that came to hover by his face. It must be morning. Kay wanted to be let out.

Except he felt like he would die if he so much as sat up.

He swallowed ( _Ow_ ) and said, "Jyn." His voice was mostly gone, and he wasn't facing her side of the bed, but if Kay had climbed over her to get to him, she'd be awake, or close to. Slowly, laboriously, he reached behind him to nudge her a bit, then froze when his hand met nothing.

 _Oh yeah_. Jyn was gone. Left for a conference three days ago, back when his 'cold' was just a drippy nose and a cough. _Fuck_. Kay was pacing on the bed behind him, whining. Cassian braced himself. There was no way around it.

He pressed his palms agains the clammy sheets and heaved himself upright. The room immediately began spinning and his head felt so heavy he genuinely thought it might roll off his shoulders. He brought one hand up to steady it, the other planted firmly behind him so he didn't slump backwards.

Kay wagged his tail and jumped off the bed before waiting patiently by the bedroom door.

Cassian bobbed his head. "I know, buddy. Just give me a min–" Clearly, six words was too many and he dissolved into another extended coughing fit. When it was over, he groaned and tried not to just lie back down. He focused on Kay, black eyes staring back at him and grey head tilted in confusion, as he swung his legs to the side and mustered the energy to stand.

The room was still swaying and the ground felt unsteady beneath his bare feet as he pushed himself up. The dizziness didn't go away as he slowly followed Kay out of the bedroom, one hand always on the nearest wall.

Kay trotted ahead of him down the hall, then turned towards the kitchen, where they kept the leash and harness. He thought he was going for his morning walk, and Cassian almost laughed at the idea. He turned the other way to the door that opened onto their patio and small, fenced-in backyard.

He rapped his knuckles on the glass to get Kay's attention. "Come on," he croaked. "Over here."

Kay looked confused and nudged his harness hanging from the coat rack with his nose.

Cassian shook his head. "Not today." He gripped the doorframe to keep from falling over and pushed the sliding door open, shivering and coughing again as the dry February air rushed in. "Out here, Kay."

The greyhound responded reluctantly to his name and loped past Cassian to step outside. Once on the patio, he turned and waited for Cassian to follow him.

Cassian shuddered and shook his head. "No, Kay. Go on." He waved his hand and silently begged Kay to just do his business quickly and come back inside. The wind was cutting right through the thin sweater he'd slept in, but closing the door on Kay would make him anxious.

Kay looked confused again and Cassian felt guilty for disturbing the routine it had taken them months to establish, but there was nothing for it. He was just too sick to do anything else.

Eventually, Kay retreated to the grass at the back of the yard to relieve himself against the fence. Cassian nearly cried with relief when he stepped back inside. His body was beginning to _seriously_ protest against being upright for so long, and he stumbled down the hall to the bedroom as soon as the back door was locked.

He curled up under the covers and shut his eyes against the lingering vertigo. Christ, he couldn't remember the last time he felt even close to this awful. He'd been coughing all morning, but his lungs still felt heavy and full. No matter how much he slept he was still _exhausted_ and otherwise so uncomfortable it was impossible to truly relax.

He pulled a tissue from the box on his nightstand ( _Almost empty– dammit_ ) and pressed it weakly to his nose, which was threatening to drip all over the pillow. A vain attempt to sniffle through the solid block in his sinuses set him coughing _again_ and he felt the lack of Jyn all over again. Far from the world's greatest nurse, were she here she'd probably do little more than awkwardly rub his back and feed him Tylenol, but still– even thinking about it made him feel a little better.

Kay's nose, like ice on his hot forehead, nearly made him jump out of his skin and he batted the dog away. Kay was on the bed again, standing over him and sniffing around, like he still couldn't understand what was so different about his owner today.

Cassian pushed weakly at Kay's ribcage. Jyn didn't like encouraging Kay when he got on the bed, especially when the bad habit interfered with… _other_ activities, and enforced the rule religiously as soon as she moved in. Cassian agreed with her, basically, but was much worse about the strict enforcement, which meant Kay quickly learned that when Jyn was gone, he could do whatever he wanted.

So Kay ignored Cassian's half-hearted attempts at discipline and began walking in circles, finding a comfortable place on the sheets to lie down.

Cassian groaned. There would be hair all over Jyn's side when she got home, exhausted from her flight and the hour-long cab ride from the airport. He reached out again, fingers brushing against Kay's stick-like legs. "No, Kay, no. No-no-no-no– oomph!"

Kay settled down much closer than Cassian expected and he gasped as Kay's back suddenly pressed against his chest. His left arm fell naturally over Kay's ribs, which rose and fell steadily as he settled down. Cassian felt his face get hot as he realized he was basically spooning his _dog_ , but the warmth seeping into his torso quickly outweighed any downside and he began to relax. Sooner than he dared to hope, his eyelids grew heavy and he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

He woke up suddenly too hot and coughing again. Kay was gone and he pushed the comforter down to his waist, rolling onto his back to cool off. He'd slept awkwardly, one shoulder crunched under his neck, and the right side of his face hurt. He blinked slowly, trying to figure out what time of day it was. The light seemed different, so he'd slept for a few hours at least, but Kay wasn't bothering him to be let out again, so it couldn't've been that long.

He sighed as much as the congestion in his chest would allow and wondered if he could just go back to sleep. His head was aching even more than before and his skin felt itchy and sensitive wherever it touched the mattress. He should probably try and find some medicine– something that would lower his fever and maybe knock him out for another couple of hours. But getting up felt as impossible as it did before, so he just laid there and tried not to focus on anything in particular.

His phone rang and he jerked. He fumbled for it and squinted at the screen. _FaceTime from: Jyn Erso <3_.

Crap, she said she was going to do that today, didn't she? His phone didn't take video calls very well so he reached for his laptop and answered the call there. He clumsily set his computer on Jyn's side of the bed and tilted the screen so he could see her without sitting up.

"Hey, Cass"

In spite of how miserable he felt, he grinned. It felt so good to finally hear her voice, even muffled and a thousand miles away. "He–" It came out a whisper, so he cleared his throat. "Hey." Not much better, but probably audible.

"Oh, Honey." Jyn's brows pinched together and she leaned towards the camera. "How are you doing?"

"Uh, not–" Right on cue, he began coughing again, pressing his face into the comforter to muffle the sound. It went on longer than he expected, and he could hear Jyn shuffling nervously in her hotel room. He stifled a groan when it was over. "Not great."

"Jesus, your cough sounds worse– are you sure you don't want me to get an earlier flight?"

"No, no. I think I'll make it to tomorrow."

"Okay…" She leaned back in her chair. "Have you been drinking lots of water?"

 _Ugh. Crap_. His water bottle, like the tissue box, was dangerously close to empty.

"Cassian."

He squeezed his eyes shut, picturing the goddamn hallway between him and the kitchen. "It's too far."

She sighed. "Please?"

"I'm fine." It was pathetic, and he knew it. Realistically, he knew he was shit at taking care of himself and at this moment there was almost nothing he wanted more than for Jyn to come home and get him some water. He felt another stab of pain through his head and he winced.

"Cassian?"

He rolled onto his back and pressed a hand to his temple. "'M fine," he croaked again. _God_ , he could feel the pressure in his _ears_.

He could see Jyn moving closer again in his peripheral vision. "Do your ears hurt? The one I can see looks kind of red…"

Fuck. When he thought about it, the pain in his head was centered around that ear. He brought his hand down to rub it, then flinched when that made it feel worse.

"Oh, Cass." Jyn's eyes flicked away from the camera. She typed something on her computer and peered at the screen. "Do you think you have an ear infection?"

 _Think_. He couldn't really think about anything. "I don't know. Maybe."

Jyn sighed and clicked around. "This says you should take pain meds for it." She glanced up. "With _water_. Which you should get when you have to let Kay out."

God fucking dammit. He didn't think he could do that again. He pressed his hands to his eyes. "I _can't_." The bed already felt like it was swaying under him. He couldn't imagine standing up and walking, or doing anything but lie here until this plague finally killed him.

"You _can_ ," Jyn said. "I know you must feel like total shit, but you _have_ to let out the dog and you might as well get some painkillers and water. It'll be good for you."

Cassian coughed roughly into the air above him. It jarred his head and made his ear ache. More.

"Babe." Jyn worried her lower lip and brushed her hair from her face. "Just– let Kay out now while you're awake, then get some water and meds and come back to bed to go to sleep."

"Do I have to?" He pressed on his ear when he had to cough again, as if that would help.

" _Yes_. Please. And get the thermometer so we can check your temperature."

Maybe it was that Kay was beginning to loiter in the hallway again. Maybe it was that medicine sounded really, really good right now. Or, maybe it was that she would be there waiting for him when he got back. Whatever the reason, Cassian somehow found it in himself to stumble out of bed again and do everything Jyn wanted.

She waited while he held the thermometer under his tongue. He held it up when it beeped.

"101." Goddamn, it felt so much worse than that.

Jyn relaxed a bit. "Okay. This says that's still low-grade. I'll be home soon, just hang in there."

"Okay." Cassian took the pills and drank some water before shivering and sliding under the covers again.

Jyn offered him a half-smile. "Get some sleep, Cass."

He sniffled, then coughed. "G'night, Jyn." He was pretty sure it was barely 5 p.m.

Jyn laughed. "Goodnight."

 

* * *

 

Fuzzy.

That was a good word for it, what he was feeling right now. He was basically aware of his surroundings– the kitchen illuminated by the dim stovetop light, the mug of tea between his fingers, but they all seemed blurry and muted, like they were really far away.

Perhaps he shouldn't have taken so much cold medicine.

But what was he supposed to _do_ when the pain in his ear kept him up for most of the previous night? The ibuprofen hadn't done nearly enough to take the edge off and sleep came only in fits that weren't restful at all. Eventually, it became too much and at some point after 4 a.m., he dragged himself out of bed and found some NyQuil in the back of the medicine cabinet. In a frustrated haze of pain and exhaustion, he took well over the recommended dose before collapsing again and falling asleep.

He woke up nearly twelve hours later feeling just as sick but also strangely wired in a way that made him loathe to return to bed after letting Kay out.

It was a strange feeling. Physically, he still felt exhausted– his limbs felt too heavy, like they were dragging him down, dizzy if he moved too fast, and each breath seemed to take more effort than it should– but his mind felt very awake and he didn't feel like closing his eyes, or even lying down again.

So he made a mug of tea and sat on the sofa with a box of tissues, staring into space feeling… fuzzy.

He lost track of how long he sat there, his mind drifting between random, unfocused thoughts. He took out his phone and occasionally used it to scroll through the internet, but would quickly lost interest in whatever he was looking at and go back to staring into space.

This inability to think about anything for an extended period of time was frustrating, but the effort required to do something about it seemed like an impossibly high bar, so he didn't.

 

He was still on the sofa when Jyn returned, although he'd listed quite a bit to the side and had been dozing in and out for the past hour. Her hair was falling out of its bun and swirling around her face as she pulled her suitcase over the doorframe. Kay barked and paced around her, licking her face and wagging his tail. She leaned over to greet him, smiling and scratching behind his ears, but stopped when she saw Cassian in the living room.

Cassian's lips twitched. "Hey." It came out a hoarse whisper and he became aware of the used tissues scattered all over the coffee table, but in that moment he couldn't think of a more beautiful sight.

She abandoned her suitcase in the hall and marched over to him. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

He shrugged and waited as she put a hand on his forehead. "Waiting for you," he said when she took a step back, apparently satisfied he wasn't delirious.

She huffed. "So I can just put you back to bed?"

He tried to grin, but the medicine was wearing off and he was beginning to feel dizzy and nauseous. He swallowed and made an effort to push himself upright.

"Come on." She held his shoulders steady as he blinked against the head rush.

Kay seemed to know where this was going and took off towards the bedroom.

Jyn watched, then turned back to Cassian, one eyebrow almost hidden under her bangs. "You let him sleep on the bed, didn't you?"

He gave a half-hearted shrug. _What was I supposed to do?_

He braced himself for a mild scolding but she just said, "Did it make you feel better?"

"A little." He coughed and rubbed his eyes.

"Well, that's good then." Jyn stood up and he immediately missed the warmth of her hands on his arms. "You know what? Sit tight for a few minutes while I change the sheets. You don't want to lie down again on whatever you've been sleeping on for the past couple days."

That sounded like heaven, so Cassian nodded and whispered, "Love you."

Jyn smiled, then leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Love you, too."

**Author's Note:**

> The end. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> Come say hi on my tumblr, where I'm [cats-and-metersticks](https://cats-and-metersticks.tumblr.com/)! We can talk about rebelcaptain and animals and stuff :)


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